Bamboo Vs Hardwood Timber Flooring

I am keen to hear opinion from people that have used either or both before.

Obviously hardwood timber is more expensive ranging anywhere from around $80 per SQM up to and over $180 per SQM depending on the specie.

Bamboo is cheaper and can look more luxurious but scratching (hence it is harder or impossible to repair by the sand and re-polish approach) and swelling and at times the noise can make it a less attractive option.

Has anyone got experience in using them? Any thoughts on what looks better and is used more often these days?

There are different types of bamboo. Strand woven is the hard stuff and is much harder to scratch. I had some Verdura put in 3months ago at about $70/m including installation. There were some glue residue on the boards left by the installers. I literally keyed the surface to remove it and did not scratch.

Most of the bamboo floorboards have this click system. Even if they do get damaged, you can quite easily swap them out (at least that's what I was told!)

I am keen to hear opinion from people that have used either or both before.

Obviously hardwood timber is more expensive ranging anywhere from around $80 per SQM up to and over $180 per SQM depending on the specie.

Bamboo is cheaper and can look more luxurious but scratching (hence it is harder or impossible to repair by the sand and re-polish approach) and swelling and at times the noise can make it a less attractive option.
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it really comes down to is it floating floor (it can be timber, laminate or bamboo) or is it glued to the slab or nailed flooring which is not floating floorboards. Hardwood will swell just the same and noise factor is due to the swelling of the boards not the type of boards or an uneven surface. This can remediated using a thicker undelay 5mm and above. in this respect - you are better off with floating as it is easy to replace. I prefer floating boards as one section can be replaced for e.g. a leak occured and only 10sqm was affected. Sand and repolish is a big job and requires all furniture moved out, and then proper cleaning of the entire house when it is completed.

For those that have used bamboo, does it swell when exposed to water / humidity?

If it is on the first floor, does it make much noise when people walk on it? (as compared to timber)

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You will find that regardless of the type of floorboard it's not good to have prolonged exposure to water. Wipe off ASAP.

If you live in an apartment check your by-laws and make sure everything is OK on that front before proceeding. Doesn't matter if you're on the first level. Generally, you will be asked to install acoustic underlay which is around $2-5 a square metre. Beats having to deal with complaints later.

We used a floating laminate or so called engineered floor when we did our renovation a few years back. The product is a ply board with a laminate over the top.

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I personally dont mind laminate, it feels like tile to me but people these days can pick it up almost instantly and the impression most people carry is that laminate is cheap. Especially when you are building a brand new place that you are trying to sell. Otherwise it is a good product and I would imagine durable...

What do they normally use as underlay and does it also mask out the cloaky noise that timber / bamboo makes?

can you do floating boards even with timber / oak / other hard wood? if it is not nailed down, Will it not move against each other and thereby creating a cheap / noisy finish?

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Floating floorboards is a type of flooring - it can be laminate, bamboo or timber or oak. You can use glued down flooring as well but it is more expensive labour wise or built a false floor which is nailed depending on the house type, slab or on stumps. Either way if water leaks occur the floors do get squeaky anyway. Normally the builder would prep the floor to ensure it is level by grinding the slab for bumps or levelling up the surfaces. Squeaky or noisy floors occur due to uneven surfaces. Normal underlay is 2-3mm. 5mm is mainly for acoustic purposes from moving furniture and is mainly used in apartments which helps with uneven surfaces sometimes.

you have a gap btw the end of the wall for expansion or and then ppl cover it up with beading or skirting. floating floors are clipped on to each other and you won't be able to see the join. laminate is fine as well. i've done more than 20 installs of floating floorboards and a few nailed and glue on timber boards. it's too expensive to do unless you are in a high end suburb dun see the point as a 90sqm could cost you 10-15K more.

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